May 31, »894j 



NATURE 



109 



discussion and a native skill in dialectic, which may 

 sometimes have led him to seek too eagerly an argu- 

 mentative triumph. But his writings bear evidence of 

 the most extensive knowledge and of a conscientious 

 examination of all sources of information, combined with 

 independence of judgment and much subtlety of analysis. 

 The high estimation in which his work is held may be 

 judged of from the fact that all his books have been 

 translated into French and German, and that the book 

 on which he was engaged when the first symptoms of his 

 fatal illness appeared — namely, that entitled " Darwin 

 and after Darwin" — was published simultaneously in the 

 United States and in this country under special conditions 

 highly satisfactory to him. 



Four years ago, in order to enjoy greater quietude and 

 the facilities of the newly erected physiological laboratory 

 of the I'niversity, Romanes removed from London and 

 took up his residence with his wife and family in a 

 fine old house in Oxford, facing the cathedral house 

 •of Christchurch. Here he has left his name and 

 ■memory not only to be cherished by the number- 

 less friends who mourn his early death, but to be 

 carried forward to all future generations of Oxford 

 scholars by the lectureship founded by him three years 

 ago. Gladstone, Hu.xley, and Weismann have been the 

 first three " Romanes lecturers" nominated successively 

 by the founder. Hereafter it will be the duty of the 

 University to elect annually a lecturer worthy to follow 

 them. 



Whilst it would be premature to claim for Romanes the 

 merit of a great discoverer or originator in psychology 

 or in the philosophy of evolution, it is neverthe- 

 less true that by his keen criticism, careful mastery 

 of details, and great literary fertility, he has exer- 

 cised a most miportant influence — stimulating the 

 thought and research of others by his example and 

 ■enthusiasm, and by those contests in the arena of the 

 " reviews " with Wallace, Spencer, and Weismann, which 

 have made his name so widely known. 



It is not generally known, though a fact, that Romanes 

 .produced, in addition to his numerous scientific writings, 

 a considerable volume of verse, which was printed for 

 private distribution, as well as occasional poems. These 

 poems deal with philosophic and emotional subjects, 

 and are often of great beauty. It should be mentioned 

 (although it is not possible here to record every fact of 

 importance in his life) that Romanes was for some years 

 honorary secretary of the Linnean Society of London, 

 and a member of the Council of University College, 

 London ; he was Rede lecturer in the University of 

 Cambridge, an honorary LL.D. of the University of 

 Aberdeen, twice Croonian lecturer of the Royal Society 

 of London, and Rosebery lecturer in the University of 

 Edinburgh, when the courses delivered by him formed 

 the substance of his book, " Darwin and after Darwin." 



(^ne word before this too hasty notice is concluded as 

 to his personality. His unaffected good-nature, and 

 almost boyish simplicity and gaiety of character, en- 

 deared him to every man and woman with whom he came 

 into contact. He has left behind him numberless friends, 

 ^ot one enemy. E. Ray L/\nkestek. 



NOTES. 



The fourth volume of that very useful work of reference, the 

 ■"Minerva Jahrbuch," which goes to press in July next, is to 

 contain an engraved portrait of Lord Kelvin. If the portrait is 

 as good as that of L. Pasteur, which adorned the third volume, 

 it will be well worth having. 



We regret to note the death of Dr. H. H. Hodgson, at the 

 advanced age of ninety-five. He was elected into the Royal 

 Society in 1877. 



NO. 1283, VOL. 50 1 



Dr. S. J. HiCKSON, Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, 

 has been appointed Professor of Zoology in the Owens College, 

 Manchester. 



Colonel Laussedat has been elected an " Academicien 

 libre " of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in succession to the 

 late General Fave. 



The Societe des Arts de Geneve have opened a subscription 

 list for the purpose of raising a fund to erect a bronze bust of 

 the late M. Colladon somewhere in Geneva. 



The gold medal of the Linnean Society has this year been 

 awarded to Prof. Haeckel, of Jena, for his important con- 

 tributions to zoological science. 



The new buildings of St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School 

 will be opened on Saturday, June 9, at 4 p.m., by the President, 

 H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught. 



A general meeting of the Federated Institution of Mining 

 Engineers will be held in the rooms of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers on Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8. Arrange- 

 ments have been made for a visit to Messrs. Siemens Brothers 

 and Co.'s works at Woolwich on Saturday, June 9. 



An international photographic exhibition will be held in 

 Arnhem, Holland, from July 14 to 29. The exhibits will be 

 divided into six classe?, one of which will include scientilic 

 photographs. Mr. G. S. de Veer is the Secretary of the Exhi- 

 bition Committee ; his address is Velperwege 94, Arnhem, 

 Holland. 



The annual meeting of the Photographic Convention of the 

 United Kingdom will be held in Dublin in July. The 

 President for the year will be Sir Howard Grubb, and the 

 committee of reception includes, among others, the Earl of 

 Kosse, Viscount Powerscourt, the Lord Mayor, and the 

 Astronomer Royal of Ireland. The proceedings will open on 

 Monday, July 9, with a reception and conversazione in the 

 Museum of Science and Art. 



In these columns on March S and May 10, we noted the 

 gigantic land^ilip that had occurred in the Gurhwal district in 

 India, and blocked up the valley of the Bihri Ganga river. 

 The disaster that was expected to result from this has hap- 

 pened. A Renter's telegram reports that the dam has burst, and 

 the immense volume of water that had been kept back has 

 flooded the district, sweeping away vdlages, and causing the* 

 loss of ahout two hundred lives. 



Last year was a critical one in the history of the Zoologica 

 Society of PhdaJelphia. We learn from the twenty-second 

 annual report thit an effort was made early in the summer to 

 raise a fund by private subscription for the purpose of 

 meeting a large financial deficit. This, ho*cver, met with 

 little success, and all hopes of saving the Garden of the Society 

 had been given up, when the Commissioners, who hold the 

 ground upon which the Garden is situated, asked from the City 

 Councils a sum of lo.ooj dollars for purposes of maintenance, 

 in addition to the 5000 dollars which h.ad for several years 

 been granted. This sum was promptly voted, the Zoological 

 Society placing in the hands of the Board of Education fifty 

 I thousand tickets for free admission of pupils of the public 

 schools to the Garden. This liberal and broad-minded action 

 has prevented the closing of the Garden and the dispersal of the 

 collection. 



In the House of Commons, on Thursday last, Mr, Strachey 

 asked the President of the Board of .Vgriculture whether it was 

 proposed to repeat the experiment of liansmilting the weather 

 forecasts to telegraph ollices in rural districts, for exhibition 



